Residential Work

154 Pages·1982·13.084 MB·English

by  Roger Clough (auth.)

Residential Wo rk
Roger Clough
M
MACMILLAN
co British Association of Social Workers 1982
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First published 1982
Reprinted 1986
Published by
MACMILLAN EDUCATION LID
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS
and l.ondon
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-30892-9 ISBN 978-1-349-16931-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16931-3
PRACTICAL
SOCIALWORK
Series Editor: Jo Campling
(BASW)
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Terry Bamford, MaIcolm Payne, Peter Riches,
Patrick Phelan, Jane Tunstill, Sue Walrond-Skinner
PUBUSHED FORTHCOMING
Social Work and Mental Handicap Social Work and Child Abuse
David Anderson David Ball and David Cooper
Social Workers at Risk Childhood and Adolescence
Roberl Brown, Stanley Bute and Peter Ford Alan Butler and Michael Kerfoot
Social Work and Mentallllness Sociology in Social Work Practice
Alan Butler and Colin Pritchard Peter Day
Residential Work Student Supervision in Social Work
Roger Clough Kathy Ford and Alan Jones
Welfare Rights Work in the Social Services Child Sexual Abuse
Geoff Fimister Danya Glaser and Stephen Frosh
Computers in Social Work Women and Social Work
Bryan Glastonbury Jaina Hanmer and Daphne Statham
Working with Families Social Work with Ethnic Minorities
Gill GoreIl Barnes Alun C Jackson and Lena DominelIi
Social Work with Old People Youth Work
Mary Marshall Tony Jeffs and Mark Some
Applied Psychology jor Social Workers Divorce and Separation
Paula Nicolson and Rowan Bayne Lisa Parkinson
Crisis Intervention in Social Services Group Work
Kieran O'Hagan Michael Preston·Short
Social Work with Disabled People Court Work
Michael Oliver Carole Smith, Mary Lane and Terry Walshe
Social Care in the Community Child Care
MaIcolm Payne Jane Tunstill
Working in Teams
MaIcolm Payne
Adoption and Fostering
Carole R Smith
Social Work with the Dying and Bereaved
Carole R. Smith
Community Work
Alan Twelvetrees
Working with Ojjenders
Hilary Walker and Bill Beaumont (eds)
PRACTICAL
SOCIALWORK
Series Editor: Jo Campling
(BASW)
Editorial Advisory Board:
Terry Bamford, Malcolm Payne, Peter Riches,
Patrick Phelan, J ane Tunstill
and Sue Walrond-Skinner
Social work is at an important stage in its development. All
professions must be responsive to changing social and econ
omicconditions if they are to meet the needs of those they
serve. This series focuses on sound practice and the specific
contribution which social workers can make to the well-
being of our society in the 1980s.
Tbe British Association of Social Workers has always been
conscious öf its role in setting guidelines for practice and in
seeking to raise professional standards. Tbe conception of
the Practical Social Work series arose from a survey of the
BASW members to discover where they, the practitioners in
social work, feIt there was the most need for new literature.
Tbe response was overwhelming and enthusiastic, and the
result is a carefully planned, coherent series of books. The
emphasis is firmly on practice, set in a theoretical
framework. Tbe books will inform, stimulate and promote
discussion, thus adding to the further development of skills
and high professional standards. All the authors are
practitioners and teachers of social work, representing a
wide variety of experience.
Jo
CAMPLING
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Residential Hornes in Society 1
Residentia1living 1
Who are the residents? 3
The need for residentia1 hornes 5
Residentia1 hornes and other sty1es of residentia1
living 9
Schoo1s for juvenile delinquents 11
Children's hornes 12
01d age hornes 15
Residentia1 centres and the cornrnunity 17
Attitudes to residentia1 hornes 18
The justification of residentia1 work 20
Systems of management 21
Costs and resources 24
2 Styles and Beliefs 28
Introduction 28
Distinctive features of the resident group 30
Stated function of the residential horne 31
Location 34
Style 35
System of management 38
Ideo1ogies and beliefs 39
Sources of belief 40
Implications for practice 45
vi Contents
3 Meeting Material and Physical Needs 47
Meal-times 50
Getting up and going to bed 55
Clothing 58
Dependence and choice 59
Principles in planning 59
4 Thinking about Practice 62
Assessment 64
Analysis and theorising 66
Time for reflection 67
Planning 68
Planning the task of the centre 70
Who needs to plan? 71
Written agreements 73
Individual assessments and reviews 76
Setting and achieving objectives 76
Who does what? 78
S Working in a Team 81
Distinctive characteristics of residential work 81
Residential units and accountability 82
Types of team 83
Objectives of the staff team 84
Methods 87
Sharing with colleagues 89
Support for staff 89
Working co-operatively 91
6 Rights 9S
The need for rights for residents 95
Wh at sort of rights? 99
Transfer of power 101
Defining rights 101
Rights on admission 102
Daily living rights 103
Rights of others 105
Protection of rights 107
Conten"ts v:ii
7 Evaluation 110
Framework 110
Criteria of success 113
Methods of evaluation 117
8 In Perspective 122
Stability, security and continuity 123
Power for the weak 125
Stressing normality 125
Living with others 127
Wh at is residential work? 131
Changing boundaries 134
In conc1usion 135
Further Reading 136
References 138
Index 142
Acknowledgements
I am aware of three main influences on this book: first, from
my time as a residential worker; second, from students and
staff at Bristol University; and third, from my family.
Y oung, fresh from college, I worked as a teacher and
housemaster at Banstead Hall and Park House, two senior
boys' approved schools. Not everything was good (one
routine I remember was to line up the boys to be checked off
while I squeezed toothpaste on to their brushes!) but there
were some good tim es too. Most importantly I came to realise
the need to create a culture or style of living that would be
agreed by staff and boys.
At the university I have shared in the stimulation of work
ing with staff and students on the post-qualifying course in
residential social work. We try to look at theory and at action,
indeed at theory for action - and it has been a privilege to
work with practitioners who invest and share so much.
Residential work is concerned with arrangements for living.
As I have thought about the ideas developed in this book, I
have related them to my present 'residential life', my life
with my family. Often unbeknown to them I have looked
at the way we manage meals or bed-times, and smiled wryly
at my own attempts to plan. If the children ever read this,
they will know apart of how I thought it ought to be.
In addition to my general thanks to these three groups of
people, I am grateful to Christopher Beedell, Phyllida Parsloe
and David Watson for detailed comments on the text. Avon
Social Services Department authorised my use of their figures
and Andrew Edgington prepared the information for me.
Bristol University ROGER CLOUGH
January 1982
1
ResidentiaI Homes in
Society
Residentialliving
Three per cent of Britain's population live in some form of
residential institution. This inc1udes those in hospitals and
nursing hornes, prisons, boarding schools, monasteries and
convents, hotels, camps for the armed services, as well as
residential units that are more c1early connected with social
services departments. These latter inc1ude hostels, short- and
long-term hornes which cater for differing groups such as the
elderly, children, the physically and mentally handicapped,
the mentally ill, the homeless. Residential living is a more
common way of life than is generally acknowledged. (See
Tables 1.1 and 1.2.)
Residential living differs from other lifestyles in that the
residents, whether voluntarily or compulsorily, are living with
others who are not from their families. It is unlikely that
residents will have chosen to live with these particular people.
In a residential centre, which is likely to be larger than most
family hornes, the residents will probably share rooms or
facilities. It is easy to see what distinguishes a residential
school from a day school - people sleep in one and not in
the other. It is more difficult to be precise about the distinc
tion between ahorne and a residential horne. Nevertheless
both phrases have powerful connotations. The first implies
'the scene of domestic life, with its emotional associations';
the second, again in the terms of the dictionary, 'an institution
affording refuge, asylum or residence for strangers, the
afflicted, poor, etc.' (Chambers Dictionary, 1960).